Prescribed Reading

Abigail Zuger, "Prescribed Reading: A Doctor's Guide to Books," New York Times Book Review, May 12, 2019, p. 11. 

     Experts have been tackling the worldwide resurgence of measles for decades no, and it was only a matter of time before the scattershot outbreaks of years past turned into the year's newsworthy explosions.
     Readers curious about this infection rising phoenix like for its own ashes will find both less and more in the library than they may want.  Aside from a few textbooks an pamphlets, I couldn't find a whole book devoted to measles-- not since the 10th century A. D., the is, when the Persian physician Al-Razi write "The Smallpox and Measles" to differentiate the two.

COMMENT

     The passage comes from a bibliographic essay about vaccinations. The author assumes that you would probably not need to buy your own collection of such books, so naturally you'd look for them in a library collection.

     The problem is, it's not a straightforward reference question.  Looking up the word "measles" turns up medical information that is radically out-of-date and unhelpful.  You could look online, but then you'd find medical sites, not a history of the disease or the development of vaccinations against it.  Worse, the Internet is a prime source of misleading anti-vax propaganda that is responsible for recent measles outbreaks in the first place.  If anti-vexers had started with better information research strategies, they might have made better medical decisions.

     These research pitfalls are familiar to reference librarians.  Biased websites, fake news, ads masquerading as "news," websites that are too specific with no context -- some medical libraries have set up websites to try to point people towards relatively more reliable medical information online.  But in this instance seems like the library is not much better with its one historic reference.  The author does what any good reference librarian would do and tries different vocabulary, re-focusing on the question of vaccination rather than the etiology of the disease. A spate of recent popular science books turn up, which tell a compelling tale of medical history although at least one has "some real bloopers" as far as medical science.  The author comments, "that's why some wise educator long ago created textbooks."

   

Math, Taught Like Football

John Urschel, "Math, Taught Like Football," New York Times, May 12 2019 p. SR10.

     In elementary school, my mind wandered so much during class that I sometimes didn't respond when I was called on, and I resisted using the rote techniques we were taught to use to solve problems.  One of my teachers told my mother that I was "slow" and should repeat a grade.
     But my problem wasn't with math itself.  In fact, I spent countless hours as a child doing logic and math puzzles on my own, and as a teenager, when a topic seemed particularly interesting, I would go to the library and read more about it. 

 COMMENT

    A recurring theme in library stories describes self-directed research that enables someone to find their passion or discover an identity. This library exploration is notable for being independent of formal teaching, and in a few instances, specifically described as a reaction to active discouragement. [1]  Most teachers do try to encourage self-directed learning, by assigning research papers and such, but the structure of classroom teaching based on a core curriculum means students are always studying for a test.  

   These stories suggest that the library is essential to education not because it supports classroom learning but specifically because the knowledge to be found in library materials it is not limited by classroom learning.  One kind of coming-of-age happens when a child gets their first library card and can read whatever they want to; another coming-of-age happens when students realize that they are not limited by the authority-figure of a teacher.   In that sense, academic libraries have a neglected role in facilitating the transition from student to expert.  Colleges and universities award degrees based on a set of classes, but going to class is not actually the goal of higher education.  The goal is for students to move beyond the need for professors.  The pretense is that the transition happens by writing a dissertation or thesis.  In reality, the transition often happens at the library, even though nobody awards grades or credit for the achievement.  

  This writer went on to get a PhD in mathematics despite poor teaching.  It's not clear whether or not better math coaching would have resulted in better self-directed research, but it is clear that having access to a library compensated for the limitations of the classroom.  

[1] See Well Read, Well Known; How to Tap Your Inner Reader; Between the World and Me

To Walk is Human

Antonia Makchik, "To Walk is Human: to Reflect, Divine," High Country News, May 13, 2019 p.42.

     What walking has given me can never be distilled onto a Fitbit or calorie counting app. Rather, I am far more aware now of how my senses help my brain filter and interpret the vast sea of information constantly shifting around me, allowing me too not just move through the world, but to understand my own place within it.  I've seen the same transformation in my son: At 10, he started walking to and from school by himself, and realized that he could also walk to after-school karate or wander to the library or a friend's house and then home again without his parents.  Many of his friends who were driven everywhere didn't know how to get from one side of town to the other; a 15- to 20- minute walk.

 COMMENT

    When children find freedom at that library it is often because they have the freedom to choose what to read. The books don't cost money to borrow so kids can try things they might not like. A kind of coming-of-age happens in the transition from the juvenile collection to the regular stacks.

   This neighborhood library offers another kind of freedom since a 10-year old can get there  himself on foot or bicycle.  Adults think of driving as a kind of coming-of-age because the driver's license frees children from being driven, but the library card coming-of-age can happen much earlier in life.  It will be six years before this kid can drive, but he's already gaining a sense of independence and self-determination.  I agree with his mom, that's a wonderful thing.

   The article specifies that the family moved from an exurban home to a walkable town. Adults forget (or maybe never knew) that car-dependent infrastructure is a serious obstacle for people who can't drive or can't afford to drive, and that means all children.  Libraries are especially accommodating to children with juvenile collections and children's librarians, but it's also an important aspect of libraries that, in the right kind of walkable environment,  kids can go there even if they don't go with their parents.

Shelf Life

Meryl Gordon, "Shelf Life: The Story of One of the Rarest Books in the World." New York Times Book Review, May 5, 2019, p.18.

     The Gutenberg Bible, purchased n 1950, was the jewel of her collection which she left to St. John's Seminary upon her death in 1958.
     In her bequest, she insisted the nothing be sold for 25 years, in the belief that future librarians should have flexibility but would keep the collection intact.  It was a tragic mistake.  The Los Angeles Archdiocese, unable to resist monetizing the valuable assets, put the entire Doheny book collection on sale in 1987.  The Maruzen Co. Ltd of Tokyo snapped up the Gutenberg for $4.4 million.  It is now the property of Keio University, where it has been digitized and locked away from public view. 

 COMMENT

    The quote comes from a book review about a biography of a rare Gutenberg Bible[1]. The collector, as in other library stories, [2] imagines that her rare book collection has enough value to be guarded intact by librarians.  In fact, the librarians sell the collection for money.

     What's most interesting to me is the comment that the digitized book is "locked away."  Librarians like to imagine that digitization makes rare and valuable things more available, not less available.  But an online picture of a Gutenberg Bible is not really the same thing as a Gutenberg Bible even though the text is the same. The spooky sense of history is lost in the format transition.

[1] Margaret Leslie Davis, The Lost Gutenberg: The Astounding Story of One Book's Five-Hundred-Year Odyssey, Tarcher Perigee, 2019. 
[2] Can't. Just. Stop. 

Why Your Neighborhood Can Determine Whether Your Child Thrives as an Adult

Matthew Brown, "Why Your Neighborhood can Determine Whether Your Child Thrives as an Adult," Deseret News, May 1, 2019, Online.

     Libraries, community centers, parks, houses of worship and other neighborhood gathering places can unlock opportunities for children to achieve the American Dream. That's what experts told a joint congressional committee Tuesday in Washington, asserting that rebuilding declining communities to foster social connections is key to closing the widening gap of economic inequality in America today. [1]
...
     Dr. Patrick Sharkey, a sociology professor at New York University, said government policies offering incentives to reversing a 50-year trend of families, businesses and social institutions fleeing economically hard-hit communities could address the disparities that Hendren's research revealed.
     "The most effective way to build stronger communities is to invest in core public institutions like schools and libraries, and public amenities like parks and playgrounds, that bring people together in shared spaces," he said.

COMMENT

      In his testimony, Dr. Sharkey cites a poll from the American Enterprise Institute that identifies schools and libraries as the top to elements that make communities successful. [2]   He goes on to say that there are three ways to build successful neighborhoods, 1) scale back policies that create geographic inequality 2) help families move to better neighborhoods and 3) community investment.  

     It's hard to say where the cause and effect lies. Future success  seems to depend largely on how much help kids get from their parents. And of course, rich people generally live in nicer neighborhoods. However, the U.S. Census Bureau says that children who grow up just a few miles apart in families with comparable incomes can have very different life outcomes. [3]  In fact, I do earn far less than my parents and I do live in a neighborhood with less social capital. It's not my preference. I would have loved to buy a house in the neighborhood where I grew up, but it's out of my price range.  I suppose my kids are doomed. At least we have a nice public library, although the neighborhood branch is currently closed for repairs due to flooding that was probably a result of climate change.
  


[1] U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Expanding Opportunity by Strengthening Families, Communities, and Civil Society [hearing] (April 29, 2019). 

[2] AEI Survey on Community and Society (February 2019).  

[3] The Opportunity Atlas: Mapping the Social Roots of Social Mobility (U.S. Census Bureau, October 2018).

Imagine Resetting Your Digital Life

Cal Newport, "Imagine Resetting Your Digital Life," New York Times, April 29, 2019, p. B8.

    Inspired by Mr. Bennett, I encouraged them to aggressively reintroduce high-value leisure activities that had nothing to do with glowing screens-- even if those activities required more energy and commitment than clicking "next episode" or scrolling a Twitter feed. Many embraced my advice. 
     A graduate student named Unaiza replaced her habit of browsing Reddit at night with reading library books, finishing eight during her digital declutter.  
     "I could never have thought about doing that before,"she told me proudly.

 
COMMENT

     One of the trends identified by the Center for the Future of Libraries is "unplugged." CFL even suggests: "This may be a rebranding from "quiet reading spaces" to "unplug zones" or "digital escape spaces" that capitalize on the trend's language.

      The fact that reading library books counts as a "high value leisure activity" shows why librarians have been mistaken to overvalue immediate digital access.  Actually reading a book takes hours to weeks. Getting the book right now is often not the most important consideration compared to selecting books that are worth the time commitment. Sometimes waiting is even preferable.  When you get in the queue for a current best-seller it  might not come for a month, but when it does arrive it's nice to be reminded of something that looked interesting. The public library has a wonderful "Lucky Day" shelf near the exit with popular books on it, and once in a while you get to jump to the head of the line by going to the actual library.

      In the digital age, libraries should spend less time trying to become part of the Internet and pay more attention the advantages of analog media and physical space.  Those are things that the Internet will never have, and they are things that are becoming more and more valuable as the drawbacks of virtual space become more and more apparent.

    

Gary Snyder

Gary Snyder, "By the Book," New York Times Book Review, April 28, 2019, p. 8.

   

Did you read poetry as a child? What books made you fall in love with poetry?
As a western Washington State '30s family we had few books.  My mother was a reader, though, and every Saturday we drove into north Seattle to check out the university district library and the thrift stores.  It seems I heard Whitman, Robert Frost, Poe and Robert Burns before I could read. 

COMMENT

     I'm happy to know that Gary Snyder's mom read him poetry.   

     If anyone asked me this question the answer would be Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats  / T.S. Eliot,  The Bat Poet / Randell Jarrell,  The Bad Child's Book of Beasts and Moral Alphabet / Hillaire Belloc, Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle and Other Modern Verse / ed. By Stephen Dunning and Edward Leuders, and Edward Lear's nonsense poems. Also those unlikely poetic parodies that used to appear in Mad Magazine at a time when there was an assumption that everyone was familiar with certain poems. (Once upon a final inning/ with the other ball team winning/ and my Mudville teammates trailing/ by a score of 2 to 4... If Edgar Allen Poe wrote Casey at the Bat).

   It's not quite  fair to say that youngsters these days don't read poetry, though. The strikingly passive-aggressive lines of William Carlos Williams' poem This is Just to Say have become an Internet meme (as I recall, the poem was included in the Reflections anthology).  My daughter appreciates This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin.